Lisbon to host historic Champions League finals, and day-to-day COVID-19 risks ranked
Portuguese news in English on June 17, 2020.
By the numbers
First, the good news: Only (and it’s still hard to use only in this context) three people have died in Portugal from COVID-19 in the past two days. At the same time, the number of active cases (total cases minus deaths and recoveries) has dropped two days in a row for the first time in almost a month. Unfortunately, the number of new cases continues to increase at a rate of about 300 or more per day. Today, 84% of new cases were detected in Greater Lisbon.
Lisbon to host Champions League finals
Huge news for football fans. Not only will the European Cup/UEFA Champions League final be held in Lisbon for the first time since 2014 (and only the third time ever), but so will all of the quarter and semi finals, the Guardian reports. As far as I can see that’s a historic first for a tournament where matches are usually played over two legs in the stadiums of the respective teams. At this stage it looks like the knockout matches will be played without anyone in the stands but UEFA notes the situation is always changing and will be further evaluated before the games kick off in August, Diário de Notícias notes. The changes do come as a minor blow for Porto, which will lose the much less prestigious UEFA Super Cup final to Budapest as part of the changes. A few more outstanding matches from the round of 16 could also end up being played in Portugal if the clubs involved can’t find another solution.
Eating out, taking the kids to play and shopping. What’s the risk of contracting COVID-19 during day-to-day activities?
On Monday I shared the Centers for Disease Control’s guide for weighing the risks of various activities. Now Reuters has taken things a step further, not only highlighting the questions you need to be asking yourself but speaking to five epidemiologists in an attempt to define the risks of various activities. Of course, they warn, even though some activities are safer than others, it’s important to never neglect the basic safety measures such as social distancing and cough/sneeze etiquette. The article gives an average risk numer out of five to everything from low-risk activities such as going to the doctor (2.1) and having a picnic outside (2.3), through to going to a party or eating inside at a restaurant (3.8) and riding public transport (4.1). The article is in English so I’d encourage you to take a look for more details. There’s also a Público version in Portuguese for anyone looking to practise by comparing the two.
Taking public transport is said to be one of the highest-risk activities. Photo: Jorge Branco.
Against UN rules, border authorities detained 77 child migrants
In 2019, 25 unaccompanied minors and 52 accompanied minors were detained in Portugal, some for more than a month, Público reports. UNICEF, the UNHCR and others have criticised the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras - SEF) for years. In 2018, the government passed a law limiting the time they could spend in detention to seven days but several children were kept for longer, including one for 59 days. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Portugal has ratified, says no minor should be detained because of their legal status in a country. SEF justifies the practice as a means to combat human trafficking but Público reports there are alternatives to the temporary detention centre at Lisbon airport where the majority of cases took place.
What’s changed three years’ after Portugal’s deadly fires? Not much, some say
Three years ago, massive fires killed 66 people and injured more than 200 in the councils of Pedrógão Grande, Castanheira de Pera e Figueiró dos Vinhos, Público reports. But now the land, in the district of Leiria near the edge of Castelo Branco and Coimbra, is “practically ready to burn” again, the Castanheira de Pera fire chief says. The local firefighters warn it’s only a matter of time before another “tragedy” takes place and if more effort isn’t made to control the forested areas everything done in the past three years may have been “in vain”. Pedrógão Fire Victims Association chairwoman Dina Duarte told Diário de Notícias in three years, little had changed in the region, with no reforestation or clearing plans. You can read an in-depth report on the fires from the BBC here, in English.
In brief
Greece and Portugal battle to become Europe's safest holiday destination. (CNN, English)
Centeno appointed team that oversees the governor of the Bank of Portugal. Former finance minister Mario Centeno wants to be the governor of Banco de Portugal. One of the team’s roles is to evaluate the governor’s work. (Público)
Fall in car sales in Portugal is the second largest in Europe. (Público)
Nursing home in Alcobaça has more than three dozen infected patients (Diário de Notícias)
Salary bonus will be paid straight to workers in July. Workers with salaries up to €1270 who were in lay-off will receive €100-351. (Diário de Notícias)
April recorded a historic drop in tourist stays, with 97.4% less guests. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has become a bit of a regular in this section and today’s “lesson” doesn’t disappoint. On Monday, he graced Portuguese TV screens not to address the nation but to teach the “most important lesson of your life” to kids via teleschool platform #EstudoEmCasa. The former teacher ended up running through 10 lessons he’d learned from the pandemic. Público has a clip of more or less the whole lesson but if you’re up for it, I’d recommend the slightly more risque version put together by Rodrigo Gomes on Twitter. Unfortunately it’s in Portuguese and I’m not going to go through and translate the whole thing but if you know that beijar means to kiss, duro means hard and lingua means both language and tongue, you should be well on your way to getting the gist...